As I’ve been working on this next book – a true crime murder story – I have found myself doing some research on a church in Indiana. Perhaps you are familiar with First Baptist of Hammond, Indiana?

Oddly enough, I spent time in Hammond in the summer of 1978. I was serving as a summer missionary with the Southern Baptist Church. I have to tell you, that summer I spent in Indiana and Michigan was a discerning one. I got to see up close and personal a lot of troubling things about the business of saving souls. I met some wonderful people but I became keenly aware of how all the money funneled upwards. The closer one got to the headquarters in Indianapolis, the bigger the expense account became.

Church is big business in America.

Really big business.

First Baptist of Hammond reportedly had 100,000 membership during the height of the ministry of Pastor Jack Hyles. Hyles started a bus ministry that rivaled that of the school system of Chicago. He declared his Sunday School the largest in the country. Maybe the world. Those buses would run into Chicago and gather up kids from the poorest neighborhoods and haul them back to Hammond for a church service.

That might seem like an admirable thing to do. Aren’t we, after all, instructed to care for the poor, the widows and her children?

But it’s not enough just to care for people. It’s the manner in which we care for them. I will be the first to tell you that church gave me a safe haven when I was a child growing up in the midst of chaos. One of the biggest issues I have with people who say we don’t need church is wondering where all those children who need a safe haven will go if everybody is at the coffee shop or the beach. What if there had been no Rose Hill Baptist for me? Where would I have found safety? Not at school, not during the years of integration. That wasn’t a safe place.

But I was a fortunate girl. I happened to find safe haven at a church with one of the best pastors to ever walk earth. Pastor Smitty and I remained friends until his dying day. One of my girlfriends called me from his hospital bedside so that I could have one last conversation with him. I didn’t wait until I got to heaven to tell Pastor Smitty how much he impacted my life. I told him that every time I got to visit with him. He really was the definition of a Gentle Shepherd. I wish every person had a Pastor Smitty in their lives.

Jack Hyles was no Pastor Smitty.

Now I know there are still Jack Hyles devotees who numbers in the thousands. People who will testify that he walked on water. What they won’t tell you is how Hyles began a legacy of sex abuse scandals that have continued to present day. Hyles’s daughter Linda Murphrey has gone on the speaking circuit telling the family secrets. Her mother was a victim of domestic abuse. Linda says her father hated her mother. She puts a great deal of emphasis on that word hate. Linda, one of four children, has been vilified for telling the family secrets, as is often the case of anyone who tells family secrets.

Children who grow up having to keep secrets grow up in fear.

Children who grow up having to keep secrets become expert liars.

Unlike her others siblings, Linda decided at some point she could no longer live the lie and she began talking.

Speaking out requires superhuman courage, especially when you are speaking against a pastor..a priest … or a president that millions idolize.

It’s harder yet when it’s your father.

Jack Hyles told his congregants that he was more than just their pastor – he was their father.

Claiming that position of authority is a common tool among abusers. It is a particularly effective tool among evangelicals or those brought up in a faith-based community, those taught that God is our Father.

Jack Hyles was called out by members of his own church for his sexual misconduct. He did what all abusers do – he denied it.

Linda was abandoned by her own siblings when she decided to tell the family secrets. Her sister Cindy and her husband Jack Schaap became the heirs to First Baptist of Hammond and the fortunes being made there. Cindy Schaap fell into the role of her own mother, keeping secrets that would threaten those fortunes. Cindy and her husband Jack Schaap saw their kingdom come, however, when Jack Schaap was sentenced to 12-years in prison for having sex with a 16-year-old, whom he was offering “pastoral” counseling. Now the church is being sued because Schaap was also involved in a financial ponzi scheme that preyed upon the congregants. (No better breeding ground for a ponzi scheme than a mega-church).

Oh. Yeah. Cindy divorced him. No word yet, whether she’s reconciled with the sister she had distanced herself from because Linda spoke a truth that Cindy refused to acknowledge.

Word on Church Street is that their brother and former pastor Dave Hyles has been restored to the faith after having numerous affairs in numerous churches. And even with all those suspicious circumstances that led to the death of two of his children, people are still willing to trust Dave Hyles and long for him to be restored to a position of authority.

Why is that?

Why are people of faith such easy marks for abusers?

It’s a question I’ve wrestled with every since I wrote KARLY SHEEHAN’s story. The easy answer is that we believe what we want to believe despite the facts. The people investigating Karly’s death wanted to believe that her mother was innocent and her father was guilty so that’s what they set out to prove.

Cindy knew the same truths as her sister Linda but she didn’t want to accept the consequences of that truth.

Abusers set the agenda. Anyone who goes against that agenda is labeled a traitor. A turncoat.

“You have betrayed me,” the abuser cries. “Betrayed me and the entire family.”

That’s why politicians, pastors and priests alike urge victims: “This is how we know we are family – we don’t betray each other. We keep each other’s secrets.”

In nearly every situation with the Hyles-Schaap scenario, the man was seen as the victim. Poor fellow. Seduced by wanton women. When Pastor Schaap was sentenced to prison, over a hundred congregants wrote letters to the court on his behalf, testifying to what a good man he is.

But here’s an inconvenient truth: Good men don’t abuse others. Lying men do.

People keep wondering why the evangelical church has been one of the staunchest supporters of Donald Trump.

Why not?

Donald Trump is the legacy of Jack Hyles’s life and ministry.

The church structure is such that it has primed the pump for a man like Trump to rise. Consider these other troubling truths:

Modern Church Structure is fashioned after corporate Wall Street whereby the pastor is the CEO and there is no higher authority

That CEO/Pastor will be a boastful man, which will be defined as bold. He will be arrogant, which will be defined as confident. He will demand things be done his way, which will be defined as being a strong leader. He will demean others, which will be defined as being fearless. He will subjugate others, which will be defined as stepping into God’s authority.

Elder boards, which used to wield power over the pastor, have become nothing more than shareholders in the business, more concerned with the profit than the truth, which makes them willing to look the other way as long as the stocks keep rising. ( Oh, is Trump attacking journalists again? How much is the Dow Jones going up today?)

Women in the church are taught from an early age that they are second-class citizens. The only real power a woman has is sexual power. Her worth is defined primarily by her obedience to the higher authority which is always men.

All power in the church is centralized around a group of men, mostly men of means. (The perfect model for Trump’s current administration.)

Anyone who challenges such a structure is immediately labeled “Not a true Believer” or a “Liar” or “Mentally/Emotionally Unstable” or a “Liberal” or a “Feminist” or fill-in-your-own-blank.

No matter the wrongs committed by the pastor, priest, or politician, the masses are always willing to forgive men and make excuses for them, while demonizing women and other victims.

People crave a leader. Even a very bad one. As long as that leader is perceived as wealthy, which church people almost always equate as “God’s blessing” … “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you”.. (one of the most misquoted scriptures of the modern era).

Jack Schaap’s defense for having raped a teenager (statutorily) was that he was under a great deal of pressure. The church was having financial problems. Worrying over those problems had led to depression, that then led to his abusing a young girl.

People think that Robert Mueller’s investigation is going to be the end of Trump.

Church history would tell us otherwise.

Trump’s downfall will come when truth-tellers come forward and when rising stocks begin to fall. When the economy takes a hit for the worse, then and only then will that evangelical base begin to question: What has Trump done to cause him to lose favor with God?

Until then we are the abuser’s prey, because, for now at least, he’s managed to convince “the family” to keep his secrets.

Karen Spears Zacharias is author of the forthcoming CHRISTIAN BEND: A novel (Mercer University Press).

Related Posts

3 Comments

I had not previously made the connection as to why so many "Christians" so vehemently support "djt" when his agenda so clearly flies in the face of Christianity - especially Evangelical Christians who so strongly support him and I would have never believed that two years ago.
Thankfully I have never lived in such a male dominate household, but I do know others who have and making that connection to those believers makes it a bit more understandable, but only a bit.
Currently I am in DC visiting my daughters before I begin either 4 or 6 weeks of radiation on the 10th. I walked the city streets today while they were at work and I gazed in the face of many "djt" supporters. You can spot them. They wear their patriotism on their sleeves and so many innocently or otherwise think what they believe is cleverly in the best interest of the nation, because they believe his false agenda of "America First". They don't look beyond to see that he is really spouting America only, or more accurately "trump" only. They believe he cares for them and they do not see his hypocrisy. They don't believe in the importance of the fourth estate and they think his call for violence against any and all who do not follow his lead is justified or cute, whichever works for them.
I love this nation to the core of my very being, but right now there are so many of its inhabitants that I don't always like and I certainly don't understand how they can be so misled by a misogynistic, xenophobic, narcissistic bigot and it just makes me sad. It makes me sad at a time when I need to think only positive thoughts and look on the bright side.
However, I can see the sadness and can know it will all come out as it needs to because I truly believe that Christ will use this situation and this time for good. And my light cannot really go out because I know that He is walking beside me, along with me as I navigate the next few weeks even though that small minded bigot sits behind the desk of the Oval Office. I remind myself that it is also my Oval Office, your Oval Office and that of every American, (male and female, white, brown, black and red, R and D, unstable or stable, rich, middle class or poor). And I pray that 2020 brings reason, stability, democracy and justice.

Linda: I am so sorry that you will spend your summer undergoing radiation. My sis is waiting the results of more testing next week but looking at the same sort of treatment possibilities. It is so necessary to care for one's self during such times.
I am glad you got to spend the 4th in DC even if doing so meant confronting uncomfortable realities.
I believe there is a strong connection between church structure and this administration. Especially so with the more fundamental of the churches, which FB Hammond certainly is.
I hope I get to return to Clinton on book tour. It would be lovely to visit with you again. I have such great memories there. Miss Ellen to pieces. Her laughter. We all could use more of her laughter.

It's been said that Christianity began in and around Jerusalem as "the way". From there, it spread around the Mediterranean world as a movement. When it spread to Europe it became an empire. In North America, it became an industry. There are numerous structures and types of organizations within Christianity. CEO-led and male dominated structures are inherently risky. Like for-profit corporations whose highest purpose is profit for key employees and shareholders, authority-centric church structures tend to ignore true costs and can become focused only on perpetuation and "growth". Repentance, humility, self-reflection and self-emptying servanthood become vague and distant concepts not seen as compatible or necessary for a church that is "alive and growing", "successful", or "on the move", or "living out the heart of the King", or... whatever our dynamic model slogan seems to be. As Apostle Paul reminds us, "Let the one who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall." I, for one, could not be part of a church that did not call and ordain women to the priesthood and expect women to be fully engaged in any kind of capacity of leadership, ministry, worship and service. Shifting gears here... Back at Christmas, I got one of those "letters" with a Christmas card from a cousin in Nebraska. Among other things, she wrote, "We don't know what we'll get with Donald Trump in the White House, but I think we can all agree that he's a better choice than Hillary Clinton." Well, no we don't agree. This was a woman who actually did her homework, who could read and digest the complexities of things like health care, delivery and costs, who actually knew how diplomacy works and how to conduct oneself with other world leaders, who would actually take the time to read intelligence reports and briefing books. Right now in dealing with the growing threat that North Korea is, we should be so fortunate as to have Hillary Clinton in the White House and taking full advantage of diplomacy and the expertise of the resources of the State Department and intelligence communities, who wouldn't spend hours every day obsessing about who said what about her in the news. If ever the words "doesn't this guy have anything better to do with his time?" better applied to the tweeter of them, I can't for the life of me think what that would be. Let the one who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall. Indeed. Amen.

Leave a Comment

Please be polite. We appreciate that. Your email address will not be published and required fields are marked

Karen Spears Zacharias

Karen Spears Zacharias grew up in a military family. Her father was killed in action in 1966. That early experience led Karen into a career as a journalist. She studied at Berry College, Oregon State University and Eastern Oregon University.
Karen has worked at newspapers around the country. Her commentary has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, CNN, National Public Radio and The Huffington Post.
Read More

Join Our Mailing List

Email

Sorry. You must have JavaScript enabled to fill out this form.

Connect with Karen

Purchase Books:

Karly Sheehan: True Crime Story Behind Karly’s Law

(Redbird Publishing)

“Beautifully written by a very talented investigative journalist. Karen has given us Karly’s legacy, that of a small, bright spirit who loved and was loved. And yet destroyed by heedless caretakers. A must read. Compelling and heartbreaking.”

Ann Rule, NYT author, Don’t Look Behind You and In the Still of the Night.

“I strongly recommend this book to everyone in the San Francisco Criminal Justice System.”

Journal of San Francisco Police Officers Association

“The art with which Zacharias carefully reconstructs events leading up to a senseless, painful tragedy is reminiscent of In Cold Blood in its power. Zacharias employs a sure sense of pace and description that enables this heartbreaking, never-salacious memoir to read like a thriller.”

Shelf Awareness

“Zacharias is at her best as a seasoned investigative reporter. With a deft touch and vivid details she sheds light on a problem that can no longer be ignored in the wake of the Casey Anthony trial. It will fill your eyes with tears, make you mad, and hopefully make you act.”

Buy This Book Online

Find A Local Bookstore

Mother of Rain: A Novel

(Mercer University Press)

“Beautifully drawn Appalachian characters, a strong sense of time and place, and a deeply important and universal theme: the interconnection of our actions and guilt (the patchwork quilt image). Like Blake, Zacharias deals with the complexity of the “fearful symmetry”, adding a profundity to her tale that gives it a superb richness.”

“Zacharias does a wonderful job of capturing the speech of the Appalachian mountain people and their ways. Every word rings true – as a daughter of Appalachia myself, I recognize the authentic ring of the words and the tragedy that often hides in the folds of the mountains. This is Zacharias’ first novel and a fine debut it is, indeed.”

Historical Novel Society

“Zacharias captures the humor, spirituality and language of Appalachia with stunning authenticity, through characters that leap off the page. With Mother of Rain, Zacharias has done her part to help preserve our mountain heritage for future generations.”

Buy This Book Online

Find A Local Bookstore

Will Jesus Buy Me a Doublwide? ‘Cause I need more room for my plasma TV

(Zondervan)

“I have been a ‘have’ and a ‘have-not’ in my live. I have found in my walk with the Lord, as Karen illustrates so well in these beautiful stories, that the riches he desires for us have nothing to do with money. I love a writer who’s not afraid to walk with real people and speak the truth of their lives. Keep shining your light Karen!”

Jeff Foxworthy

“If the prosperity gospel had a heart, Karen has stomped that sucker flat. This is a worthy read.”

William Paul Young, author, The Shack “

“[Karen Spears Zacharias has] a huge fan in the Allman Brothers Band of heathens. Thank you for being brave enough to stand up and be one of our prophets. We deperately need you.”

Buy This Book Online

Find A Local Bookstore

Where’s Your Jesus Now?

(Zondervan)

“Heartbreaking and witty, full of compassion and righteous outrage. It’s a fascinating book.”

AJ Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically

“Karen Zacharias has testified! This book is funny, fierce, and fearless. My stomach hurts from laughing, and my heart aches from finding the truth.” Doug Crandell, author of Hairdos of the Mildly Depressed and The Flawless Skin of Ugly People

“If Karen Spears Zacharias should turn evangelist, the stadium will be full every night.” Sonny Brewer, author of The Poet of Tolstoy Park

“Karen Spears Zacharias craves the Jesus of Hank Williams, Thomas Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, and William Blake. In essays bristling with doubt and fear, buoyed by flashes of the brightest hope and splashes of the darkest humor, she grants us the privilege of joining her search party. She almost–almost!–has me convinced He’s out there somewhere.”

Jack Pendarvis, author of Awesome and Your Body is Changing

“Witty, intelligent and a poignant analysis of organized religion today.”

Buy This Book Online

Find A Local Bookstore

After the Flag has been Folded

(William Morrow)

“A relentless narrative, brilliantly written and paced, told by a daughter whose father was killed in action in Vietnam and the devastating effect it had on the author and her family. I am giving this book to my daughters.” Pat Conroy

“A dead-honest, raw-edged memoir on how the death of her father in Vietnam changed her life and the lives of everyone around her. Wonderfully told.”

Joseph Galloway

“A beautiful and important book. It thrums with real life and the beating heart of not only her own family’s history, but everyone’s history. This book will stay with me always.”